Last season Missouri was the lone college basketball program to advance to NCAA Tournament play with just one returning starter and Haith will look to duplicate that feat once more this season with just one starter, Jabari Brown, back from last year’s 2311 campaign. “I was really proud of that team last year because we had so many new parts, including on our coaching staff, but those who know me understand I am never satisfied and always want to achieve more,” Haith said. “We are going to continue to develop a program that our fans and our state can identify with. We want this program to have that same bluecollar mentality that Coach Stewart brought and I feel like that’s starting to take shape.” During last season’s NCAA Tournament run Missouri enjoyed its second undefeated season in Mizzou Arena history, going 17-0 at home with wins over a pair of nationally-ranked opponents, including No. 5 Florida. In fact under Haith Missouri is an outstanding 9-4 vs. Top 25 teams including a 5-3 mark vs. the Top 10. That performance came on the heels of a 30-5 inaugural season in Columbia.
Picked fourth in the Big 12 Conference preseason coaches’ poll, Missouri won a schoolrecord 14 league games, and finished second in the conference standings with a 14-4 mark. The Tigers won the school’s final Big 12 Tournament Championship with a 3-0 run in Kansas City, before advancing to the NCAA Tournament. With that record-setting first season in the books, Haith received recognition in the form of numerous coaching accolades, including the prestigious Henry Iba National Coach of the Year honor, as well as the Associated Press National Coach of the Year. He was also named the Big 12 Coach of the Year and was the U.S. Basketball Writers Association District VI Coach of the Year. As a first-year coach, Haith guided his team to more regular season wins than any other Mizzou coach before him and became the first Tiger head coach since 1920-21 to win his first 14 games. “It has been a special two years here and the future is only going to get brighter,” Haith said. “Anytime you take over a program there is a process you need to follow to build a recruiting base, build your brand and most importantly, build the support of your fans.
2013-14 Mizzou Basketball Notebook
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